City to discontinue pay-by-phone parking meters

The Department of Transportation Services announced that the phone payment feature on the city’s new smart parking meters in the Civic Center area, downtown, and Chinatown will be suspended as of Sept. 15.

All of the affected meters will continue to accept credit card payments via the card reader in the meter.

More than a year after installation, phone payments account for less than one percent of all smart meter transactions, with the bulk of payments made by coins and credit cards.

The pay-by-phone feature requires significant battery power for cellular data transmission and has resulted in operational issues.

All of the new smart meters are powered by small solar panels and batteries.